Miss Earth Kenya’s Compassionate Vision

Grace Wanene is an inspiring woman who is Miss Earth Kenya, a Water Ambassador, and proud Good Elephant. Read our interview with her below and look out for her efforts to uplift humanity in Kenya and beyond.

1. What inspires me to take care of mother earth is her serenity and tranquillity that I would never want to wake up one day and find it all gone. I come from one of the most beautiful places in Kenya -Laikipia County. Here human and wildlife conflicts is a huge threat to mother earth. Her serenity and inspiration and the need to preserve mother earth for our future generation, lights up a fire in me to keep fighting for her conservation. So through my community based organization Drawing Dreams Initiative, we do conservation programs in primary schools and I’ve also written a kids book “Let’s go wild” to inspire kids on conservation matters. The same passion that got me to represent my country at Miss Earth international pageant in the Philippines last October and also got me appointed as the Kenya Water conservation ambassador. Roles that I play with so much passion and grit.

2. I am not sure where I learnt to live with compassion but as a first born of two beautiful girls and a single mum, I found myself putting my siblings’ needs before mine. Raising them up with so much love and responsibilities and it never felt like a burden. So growing up and finding a world that lacks compassion, I got inspired to do more. So I got myself into pageantry which I knew would create a platform for me to let my voice be heard and still serve my purpose.

3. I want a world in which every child has the opportunity to achieve his/her fullest potential in and contribute to all aspects of life, a world in which all minds are eco-conscious and a generation that acts and works with passion and uses their talents to better the world. This is the impact I would want to make and strive to make in Kenya.

4. My greatest inspiration in life is my mum. She strives to accomplish her goals and eventually she makes it happen. Her life has inspired me beyond words can express and watching her succeed despite the challenges that kept showing up, one after another, she never ever gave up.

5. I want to become a Good Elephant, to continue advocating for quality education & life skills empowerment and wildlife & environmental conservation , together with my community based organization members and the good elephants from across the globe. It’s the little things citizens do that make a difference.

6. For a sustainable future, Kenya needs Quality Education and Life skills Empowerment. These are the backbone of all the sustainable development goals that Kenya seeks to achieve.

–Alok Appadurai is founder of GoodElephant.org, is a Certified Holistic Mental Health Coach specializing in anxiety & depression, a TEDxSpeaker, and proud father. You can learn more about him by clicking here.